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Two new volumes containing Mozart’s transcriptions and
adaptations of works by other composers have been published as a supplement to
the New Mozart Edition.

The volumes, edited by Dietrich Berke (†), Anke
Bödeker and Faye Ferguson, completed by Ulrich Leisinger, together number some
300 pages and demonstrate impressively
Mozart’s reaction to his contemporary musical environment. Throughout all
periods of his creative life, Mozart transcribed works by other composers, often
for study or performance purposes, even adapting them when necessary. Mozart selected both popular works of the day
as well as “Early Music” masterpieces. As Mozart’s transcriptions and
adaptations did not always carry the names of the original composers, over time
many of these works were ascribed to Mozart as original compositions and were
even assigned K. numbers in the main Köchel catalogue.

Mozart’s adaptation of Bach and Handel keyboard fugues
for string instruments, his expanded and revised brass settings in arias by Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach as well as his treatment of a violin concerto by Viotti may
be of special interest for the practical musician. Mozart’s embellishments and handling of
cadenzas in arias by Johann Christian Bach serve as vital evidence of
historical performance practice.

The volumes, published by Bärenreiter, Kassel, may be acquired
in music bookshops. Currently, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg is preparing
the final three volumes of the New Mozart Edition for publication, thus
bringing to a close the large-scale Mozart project that has engaged three
generations of music scholars since 1955.